The Assignment
by Miss Mischief Managed
Summary: When the Gryffindors and Slytherins are paired up to work together on a year long project, Peggy Carter and Jack Thompson are stuck with each other. Hopefully, they'll be able to get through it
1. Chapter 1

Peggy Carter had already been waiting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for fifteen minutes with her friends, Angie Martinelli and Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan, when the rest of the students started trickling in. It was the only class the Gryffindor Seventh Years had to share with the Slytherins. Angie couldn't stand any of them and she had already started her grumbling when she saw Dottie Underwood and Antony Yauch enter. Peggy and Dum Dum had indifferent opinions on the Slytherin. As long as the pair wasn't bothered both by any of them that was.

But not even Peggy could restrain herself from rolling her eyes when she saw Jack Thompson, the most arrogant of the Slytherins, enter the classroom. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she watched him wave Daniel Sousa, one of her fellow Gryffindors, through the door. Daniel nodded to Thompson in gratitude as he slowly hobbled over to join the other three at the table they typically shared together.

"How's the leg today… So'n'So Sousa?" Dum Dum ventured hesitantly. The others groaned.

"It just got worse when you said that," Daniel replied, sitting down with a sigh.

"It's just hard to find a nickname for you. And Peggy. You two don't like any of the ones I give you," Dum Dum sulked.

"'Peggy' is a nickname, Dugan," Angie corrected, popping in a stick of gum.

"For what?" Dugan retorted. The bell rang and he immediately scrambled in his bag for his quill.

"Margaret. How did you not know my name was Margaret?" Peggy asked, handing him her extra quill, as well as an inkpot.

"Oh, thanks. Well geez, Peggy, you just moved here beginning of this year; I must have forgot."

She snorted. "It's been three months. I moved here from America, not Mars; the names are the same there as they here in England."

"Yeah, but with that accent, I probably couldn't understand it."

"Mister Dugan, do you understand how to get out your book and turn to page 154?" Professor Dooley inquired from his podium. There was snickering from the Slytherins' half of the room as Dugan whipped his head back and forth and saw that everyone else had their book out, including Peggy.

"Yes, sir, I understand," he murmured and drew out his book from his bag, flipping it to the required page.

"Mister Thompson, is something funny?" Professor Dooley asked, turning his attention to the mocking student.

Peggy glared as she watched Thompson stifle his laughter.

"No, sir," he answered, getting serious.

"Good. Now, if everyone's ready, we will begin. Today, we are starting the partner projects we discussed. You and another student,"- people started pointing and nodding at each other- "of _my own choosing_,"- groans filled the room- "will be studying your partner's technique and reaction time. Which spells do they use, how accurate do they appear to you, are they fast or slow, do they actually remember anything I have been teaching?" Dooley waved his wand over a stack of papers on his beloved podium.

"_Depluso,"_ he incited, sending a paper to each student. "This is the rubric for the project. You will be writing a five page paper on this project." Hands shot up. "Two papers from the pair of you; ten pages total. Lucky for you all, this isn't an experiment that takes a few days. This will count towards your N.E.W.T.s and should take you until the end of the school year. To make sure you are actually making progress, I expect a short essay to be turned in at the end of every week. Questions?"

There was little movement in the room. The students sat- some slack jawed and some hyperventilating. Peggy blinked slowly several times; she could practically hear Angie's heart attack and tried to ignore Dugan's gagging cough.

"Alright, no questions, so I'll tell you all your partner.

"Miss Martinelli and Miss Underwood." As a loud scoff came from the Slytherin, Peggy quickly leaned over and covered her friend's mouth to muffle the foul language that was bound to come from it. Angie slapped her hand away and scribbled angrily on the table as Professor Dooley kept listing names.

"Mister Sousa and Mister Li." David let out a quiet sigh and leaned back with a thud.

"Mister Dugan and Mister Yauch." Dum Dum just shrugged. He and Peggy had no problem with Yauch; he was a good kid, besides being a Slytherin.

"Mister Jarvis and Mister Stark." Peggy shifted in her chair to see the two boys, who were already quite good friends, scratch ideas down with their quills onto parchment.

"Miss Carter and Mister Thompson." Peggy took a deep breath. She figured she would be paired with a Slytherin-all the pairs were a Gryffindor with a Slytherin, but she didn't think she'd be paired with _him. _Out of all the Slytherins, she had to be paired with _Jack Thompson_.

She could barely hear Dooley finish listing off students. David tapped her on the shoulder.

"Peggy. Hey, Peggy." She jerked and then smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry, what?"

"We're splitting up with our partners to discuss the project," he said, gesturing to the students who were shuffling without eagerness around the room. Angie and Dugan had already wandered off to their partners.

"Oh. Alright then," she answered standing slowly and picking up her bag.

"Sorry you're with Thompson," Daniel offered. She flashed a quick smile.

"It's fine. I'm sorry you're with Li," she replied. Daniel chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And I'm sorry you two lovebirds aren't with each other," a familiar, snarky voice butted in. Peggy turned to face Thompson.

"Let's just get this over with, okay?" she said, nodding a good-bye to Daniel as he started walking away. Thompson eyed her, giving her the feeling that he doing more than taking in her appearance. It was more like he was examining how she was feeling, what she was thinking.

"Yeah, let's," he responded after a moment. They sat down simultaneously. Peggy pulled out parchment and her quill. To her surprise, Thompson set an inkpot down in front of her.

"Can't have you take all day," he said with a shrug. She raised an eyebrow, examining their assignment list.

"Why don't we do the easy stuff first and get it out of the way? There's a boggart on the second floor, in a closet near the stairs," she said, marking her parchment near the top were it listed a fear nonfatal magical creatures.

"I'm not interested in seeing you crying when Sousa tells you he's not in love with you," Thompson retorted.

"Well, I don't care to see you sob like a baby when a girl tells you she thinks you look like a boiled toad, but I want to get my N.E.W.T. so why don't we meet Thursday at 5 o'clock and get this over with?" she said forcibly, stabbing her quill into the table.

Thompson scowled at her and crossed his arms. He exhaled slowly. "Make it seven. I have Quidditch practice."

Peggy nodded, scribbling a reminder down. "It's a date," she replied with a smirk. He glowered, but nodded. This will definitely be an experience, Peggy thought to herself as she gathered her things as class ended.


	2. Chapter 2

Peggy stood by the staircase, waiting for Thompson. The picture next to her depicted an elderly woman in a black cloak with decrepit, yet kind face.

"What time did you say he supposed to meet you?" the old woman asked Peggy again, her voice a raspy whisper. Peggy glanced at her watch.

"About… forty minutes ago," she replied with a huff. She slid down the wall and sat down, cursing Dooley for pairing her with such a selfish bastard, Thompson for actually standing her up, and herself for thinking maybe she could get this assignment done if she put in personal effort.

"The thing about these male students nowadays is that they lack chivalry. Why, my husband would never make me wait. He'd arrive to pick me up at least 15 minutes before all of our dates," the woman said fondly. Peggy chuckled lightly as she leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit.

"Thompson isn't my date- he's my partner for this Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment we just got," she corrected with a snort.

"Mercyme, that boy is potentially hurting your grade! Don't snort, dear, act like a lady," the woman asked, pulling yarn and knitting needles from the folds of her cloak. She began knitting erratically.

"Sorry, ma'am," Peggy said, taking out her Dark Arts textbook, _The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts_.

"Anyways, that boy sounds like a bad dream," the woman added, slowing her knitting to a more human pace.

Peggy raised an eyebrow. "More like a nightmare," she muttered, flipping to page 154 to view the list of typical attack spells that were used. Of course, they wouldn't be of much use against the boggart but she figured they might come in handy if Thompson was too bothersome.

She yawned and glanced at her watch again. Nearly a quarter afterl. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, shutting her book and glancing at the old woman's frame. She appeared to be sound asleep.

Peggy smiled faintly and stood, stretching. There was no point in waiting for Thompson any longer; honestly, she didn't know why she had waited so long for him anyways. The naive part of her must have thought that even if he couldn't stand her, he would at least care enough about his personal grades to stick with the plan.

"Not like a boggart is hard to handle," she muttered under her breath as she started up the stairs her way to the Gryffindor dormitory.

There were still a few students milling about in the halls, so she thought nothing of the loud footsteps coming up the stairs behind her. However, the hand grabbing her elbow caught her attention.

She whirled around and swung her bag at a boy, hitting them squarely in the stomach., not really taking the time to figure out who it was. Whoever it was let go of her and folded over, cursing.

"Bloody hell, Carter," a familiar voice groan. He winced as he straightened up, placing his hand on his injury. "Is that how you say 'hello' back home?"

Peggy glared at him. "It is if they're someone I waited on for almost an hour, like I did with you, Thompson." To her surprise, he chuckled at that.

"Yeah, I might've hit me, too," he relented. Peggy shifted on her feet uncomfortably, readjusting her bag on her shoulder since she no longer appeared to have a need for it. "So are we gonna do this or what?"

Peggy shook her head at him, scoffing. "No, we're not. I'm going to help my friends with the Transfiguration essay." She turned and continued walking up the stairs, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Carter, c'mon," he asked, scrambling after her. She could practically feel him reaching for her arm again so she turned to face him once more.

"It's not happening tonight. We agreed that seven would work for the both of us because we have different schedules and it happened to fit. And right now, mine's full," she said stiffly. "Goodnight, Thompson. I'll see you tomorrow in Dark Arts. Perhaps we can reschedule and stick with it then." She gave a tiny nod to herself as she pivoted away and marched upwards with conviction.

She reached the Fat Lady and flashes a faux smile as she said the password, entering the common room as quickly as she could. She almost knocked over a lamp in her haste to get to Dugan and Angie.

As she tumbled into a large chair by the fire, Angie cast an annoyed glance in her direction. "Glad you finally decided we were worthy of your help."

Peggy opened her mouth to sigh, but it turned into a yawn that seemed to irritate Angie even more. "We're already boring her Dugan and she hasn't even been here a minute." Dum Dum winced sympathetically at Peggy, shrugging. Peggy held back a grumble and straightened up, blinking to make herself more alert.

"Sorry, Ang. Thompson didn't show up until I was leaving. We didn't even get anything done," Peggy said, trying not to sound apathetic. Angie relaxed a little and faced her again, sending an apologetic smile.

"You're right, I know you wouldn't willingly hang out with Thompson for longer than you had to," Angie said. "Anyways, Transfiguration. Do you understand this, Yankee? I don't understand any of this and there's a reason Dugan's called Dum Dum."

"Hey!" Dugan grumbled, stealing Angie's quill.

"Kidding, I was kidding," Angie grinned. Peggy rolled her eyes and pulled out her finished essay. Angie snatched it up.

"Thanks, Yankee!" she said, pulling out her enchanted quill that copied lessons and homework for her.

"Ooo, Angie, can I borrow that?" Dugan asked, excited.

"Oh, yeah, no problem," she replied. Peggy smiled and snuggled back into her chair, forgetting the annoyance she had with Thompson earlier as she drifted off into sleep.

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**Boggart next chapter, promise! Thanks for all the attention this has been getting; it's super awesome. Love this fandom :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Jack woke with a start. Something kept poking him in the eye.

"Shove off, Li," he grumbled, burying his face in his pillow. The poking persisted, moving to his ear. Growing frustrated, he flipped over to face his attacker.

Which was… an origami crane.

He sighed and grabbed the paper bird and it fell open of its own accord. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he read:

'_Jack,_

_ The boggart's waiting._

_ Be by the second floor stairwell._

_ Peggy'_

"No buggering way," he mumbled, crumpling up the paper and tossing it away. To his annoyance, it unwrinkled itself and flew back to his bed. The words on it faded and were slowly replaced, as if a phantom hand was writing.

_ 'Thompson, I'm serious. _

_ We have to get this done __today__.'_

He frowned at the paper and glanced at his clock on the bedside table. It wouldn't be dawn for another hour. The girl was actually insane. He rubbed his eyes and fumbled for a quill with his free hand.

_ 'It's way too bloody early for this, Carter.'_

He doodled in the margin as he waited for the reply while his own words vanished. He was quite curious about the spell she was using.

_ 'Now is really the only time to do it. Dooley expects a report_

_ beginning of class._

_ And stop drawing in the corner.'_

Oh, right. He'd forgotten about the weekly assessment. Jack could sense her annoyance as he watched several ghost ink drops splat on the paper. He stopped doodling as he decided to make her tick just a little more.

_ 'We could've done last night,_

_ even if I was a little late,'_

he replied.

_ 'A little? Whatever. But now, we __have__ to do it _

_ today, so just meet me in fifteen minutes!'_

He was just about to annoy her even more for his own entertainment when she added,

_ 'Please, Jack. We need to get this done.'_

He exhaled slowly. She was right and, technically, they _were _even now since he had been late and she had ditched him. He scoffed lightly to himself as he replied.

_ 'Alright, Marge. Fifteen minutes.'_

He crumpled the paper once more and stuffed it in the top drawer of his night stand. He staggered out of bed and fumbled for his clothes, pulling them on as quickly as he could.

A loud mumble startled him and he fell to the ground, thankfully without knocking anything over. No doubt it had been Li talking in his sleep. Again.

Jack stood up and straightened his clothes, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He snatched his wand from off of his nightstand and began making his way out of the dormitory.

* * *

It had been fifteen minutes and Jack was still waiting on Peggy. He leaned against the wall and tried to sleep again, figuring she would be late to get whatever form of revenge she desired.

"Oh, good, you're actually here," he heard her call. He opened his tired eyes and saw her making her way down the staircase. He blinked a couple times, was she actually wearing her hair _loose?_

She reached the bottom of the steps, looking at him expectantly. She shifted her bag awkwardly and gestured to the doorway next to Jack.

"Shall we?" she asked with a fake British accent. He chuckled and bobbed his head.

"We shall," he agreed with his attempt at an American accent, walking over and holding open the door for her. She laughed lightly.

"Let's agree to never do that again," she said in a light tone as she walked through. "Thank you."

"Oh, absolutely. But your accent's fading, haven't you noticed?" he asked as Peggy led the way to the boggart's home. She sighed, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

After a moment, she nodded and replied. "A little. It makes me miss home more. But I won't be staying in England long enough for it to totally leave me."

Jack hummed, not really making a response, just thinking about what it would be like to move all the way across an ocean. He wasn't sure if he could do something like that, ever, but he didn't think that the two of them were close enough to talk about their personal lives like that.

"Jack?" Peggy was peeking out of a doorframe he had walked past. She cast him a questioning look. "It's just in here."

"Oh, right. Tired is all," he said, brushing it off and following her. They stopped next to a cobweb covered wardrobe. Jack crinkled his nose upwards. "How'd you even find this place? It's disgusting."

"I was exploring and kind of stumbled upon it," she shrugged and approached the wardrobe. "Do you want to go first?"

"Yeah, why not?" he mused, setting down his bag and drawing out his wand. Peggy raised an eyebrow at him, as if to ask if he was ready. He nodded as he took a deep breath. He wasn't looking forward to anything but getting this out of the way.

Peggy jerked the doors open and ducked out of the way as the boggart transformed into a wrecked car with something moving stiffly inside. His eyes widen and he froze for a moment. Boggarts hadn't been like this the last time he dealt with one.

He reigned in his focus. "Riddikulus!" The crushed vehicle turned into an ice cream truck before it was quickly replaced by an owl swooping in and a dropping a letter into Peggy's hands.

He could see her hands shaking as she opened it. She seemed to have read it before tossing it to the ground.

"Riddikulus," she commanded and this time as the boggart began shifting it shape, she slammed it into the wardrobe.

Jack watched her closely, trying to gauge her reaction rather than thinking about the boggart's transformation of his fear. She rubbed her eyes and for a crazy moment, he thought she was wiping away tears. He dismissed the notion. Peggy Carter would never cry, not in front of him.

"If you write your assessment of me, I can use a simple transfer spell and get them both on the same paper," Peggy offered.

Jack nodded and picked up his bag. "Will do. See you later, Peggy."

Oh no. Peggy raised an eyebrow before offering him a short smile. "See you later, Jack." He smiled back quickly and watched her leave the room, deciding since they both had to go the same way to exit, he would save them both some awkwardness by just waiting a few extra moments.

"Huh," he murmured to himself as he began making his way out. He honestly hadn't expected to be reminded of the car and he _definitely _never would have thought to see Peggy spooked. "Bloody boggart."

After shutting the door behind himself, he turned and pointed his wand at the lock. "_Colloportus," _he whispered, locking the boggart up for at least the time being.

He rubbed his head and decided that after writing the assessment, he'd do his best to forget about most of this morning.

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even my own soul. Thanks so much for the reviews and such, you are all lovely people! Any mistakes made are mine.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't think I actually gave you guys a year. This a modern fic, so after HP happened, but I'm not messing with those characters, unless maybe a request happens but we'll see**

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It was a month into the project and Peggy and Thompson were struggling to come up with more ideas. They had done the boggart (never talking about it afterwards), transfigured flying birds into origami cranes and returned them to their natural state, done a fire protection spell on ice (that had almost caught a curtain on fire) , and they each had levitated themselves for fifteen minutes or so.

And now, for the life of them, they had nothing. They needed one _really_ good assessment to end the semester with. Dooley was actually going to take a holiday for once; otherwise Peggy was sure he would've kept the work coming.

Peggy clicked her tongue. "We could maybe- well, no we couldn't." She rolled her neck, popping some stiff joints. They were sitting on the side barriers of the bridge, along with Angie and Dottie- though the two both opted to stand. Apparently, sitting on a ledge in the rain was 'almost a death wish'.

"What did you say you all did?" Peggy asked, squinting in the sunlight as she turned to face Angie.

"We transfigured our noses and for the three before, we made potions," Dottie butted in, sounding extremely chipper on such a dreary day. Peggy suppressed a chuckle when Angie pretended to gag and disguised it as a cough.

"We should do a potion," Jack suggested, taking the idea.

Peggy shook her head. "We started off too strong. No turning back now." She huffed out slowly, trying to think. "Ugh! Almost everything I'm thinking of requires us to go to the Forbidden Forest."

"Why can't we do that?" Thompson asked. Peggy turned to look at him.

"_Its_ _actual_ _name is the_ _Forbidden Forest_," she replied, raising an eyebrow. He stared at her with a confused expression before bursting with laughter.

"Riiight. You know who Harry Potter is? He went in there all the bloody time," Jack chortled. The corner of Peggy's mouth rose up in a smile.

"He was the Chosen One. We're just trying to our N.E.W.T.s," she replied with a light laugh, bumping their shoulders together.

"Oh, bloody hell," Angie mumbled under her breath. Peggy frowned, glancing back at her friend.

"What's wrong, Ang?" she asked.

Angie snorted. "Nothing, at least not to you. C'mon, Dottie, let's go do some magic or something." Dottie nodded and the pair began walking away. Peggy bristled and then swung her legs up and over the ledge, hopping down.

"Wait here," she told Thompson, not bothering to hear his reply before jogging to join them. She grabbed Angie's shoulder.

"Seriously, Angie, tell me what's up?" Peggy pleaded to her friend.

Angie scoffed. "Dottie, can you give us a little privacy for a moment?" The blonde bobbed her head again and walked away. Angie folded her arms, looking a slightly annoyed.

"Ang?" Peggy said hesitantly.

"It's Thompson. You're so worried about your grade and your N.E.W.T. and we never see you anymore. Dum Dum and Daniel were saying the same thing this morning at breakfast and Dottie told me she and Li hardly ever see Thompson lately," Angie rushed, barely taking a breath. Peggy squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"I see you guys all the time!" Peggy said shrilly. "We talk every night in the common room, I eat lunch with all of you, and we study in the library _several _times a week. Why do you think that?"

Angie shrugged. "We just feel like you _care_ about Thomson." She shuddered, like the thought was repulsive to her.

"You get along good with Dottie; Daniel doesn't have a problem with Li anymore, and Dugan gets along with everyone so what's the big deal?" Peggy said defensively.

Angie rubbed her eyes and sighed. "It's like your crushing on him, Peg. If you can tell me right now that you don't like him that way, I won't mention it again."

Peggy's eyebrows shot up. She hadn't expected that. She didn't think she had ever thought about Jack that way. He was attractive, she had to admit. And he hadn't been as much of an ass as of late. In fact, she thought she had misjudged him quite a bit. He'd just always seemed like a cocky buttmunch and she never took the time to observe him unless he was acting that way.

Apparently, she had been thinking too long because Angie scoffed once more and called to Dottie, "alright, let's go."

Peggy ran a hand through her hair. There was no point in talking to an angry Angie, not after a certain extent. Peggy felt as if she had reached that point. She turned around to go back to Thompson and tell him they could talk about the project more Sunday afternoon, but instead- she bumped into him.

Startled, she gasped. "Dammit, Jack, I told you wait!"

He looked down at her, being a good five inches taller than she was, and his face broke out into a huge grin. "Something you want to tell me, Peggy? Maybe a declaration of your love and affection?"

"Jerk," she grumbled, shoving him in the chest. He faked a wince and laughed.

"I'm being serious, it's okay if you're in love with me," he added, wriggling his eyebrows.

Peggy snorted. "If anything, you'd be in love with me," she corrected him with a smirk. Her mouth went lax when she saw his face grow more serious.

"Maybe, maybe not," he murmured. Oh, no, she thought. Oh, no, this could not be happening. She took a large step backwards. He chuckled again and reached for her hand. She pulled it away and drew both her hands up to her chest in wary position.

"Peg, I'm just playing with you, you know that," he said. She squinted at him and absentmindedly bit her lip. She was confused when he stiffened slightly and hastily put his hands in his pockets.

"Can we talk about the project Sunday afternoon in the library? Just send a crane or something with the time," he said hurriedly, barely giving her time to nod before rushing off.

She took a deep breath in as he walked past her and she caught a whiff of his cologne. God, he smelled _good_ _. _She mentally slapped herself out of it. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, there was no way he liked her. There was no way she liked him.

Except now she was thinking… maybe she did.

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**I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Thanks again to all the reviewers and those who've favorite and followed. Y'all are awesome!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry, this is a bit shorter (and took longer) than normal. It will be like this for a bit. I'm writing my 10 page research paper that's due next Friday. Things will pick up then!**

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Sunday afternoon, Peggy was in the library doing some Astrology while she waited for Jack to arrive. She was sitting in the lounge area not far from the doors so he would most likely see her as soon as he came in.

Frowning, she tried to determine which Zodiac was more likely to be bitten by a werewolf during a thunderstorm: Sagittarius or Virgo? She honestly didn't care and just wrote some of the mumbo-jumbo stuff she knew Trelawney would just fawn over.

"So tell me, Carter, what's your sign?"

She snorted under her breath. "As if I'd tell you," she retorted. He chuckled lightly and sat down in a chair next to her, tossing his bag down carelessly.

"Typical of a… Leo?" he guessed, raising an eyebrow.

She shook her head with a grin. "Nope."

"Pisces?"

"Nope."

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, kicking up his feet onto the table. Peggy glared at him.

"Feet down or else," she threatened, flicking a page of her book for emphasis. He rolled his eyes but complied.

"What are we doing next?" he asked, lacing his fingers behind his neck as he stretched out. Peggy tried not to look at his stomach since his shirt had risen to expose an inch or two of skin.

"I'm not sure to be honest. Any suggestions?" she said, scribbling down something about how a Gemini would prefer to become a vampire over a werewolf. It was absolute nonsense to her, but she refused to quit the class.

"I told you, we should go to the Forbidden Forest," he grumbled, fixing his shirt. Peggy suppressed a disappointed groan.

"Then how will we explain _that_ in the assessment we write? 'Professor, we went into the Forbidden Forest and we almost got killed by a stampede of centaurs. Don't worry, we'll be safer next time when we go out and find a werewolf on a full moon,'" she said sarcastically, giving up on Astrology. She stacked her papers and book with attitude before shoving it into her bag.

"Alright, we'll forget the assessment then. Let's just go see what's so bloody horrible that they have to seal us off from it," Jack said, his eyes gleaming with the fantasy of an adventure.

Peggy frowned. "I'm pretty sure I just listed a couple. Not to mention we need our grades, Jack," she said, shooting down the idea. Jack shook his head and dragged his seat closer to Peggy's, leaning in closely. He gestured for her to do the same and she tilted toward him slightly, still skeptical.

"Peggy, what if we don't run into anything bad?" he murmured, staring right into her eyes. Her frown deepened and she shook her head.

"It's forbidden _because _of the bad things. Just because we don't see them doesn't mean they won't see us. I'm not going to do it," she hissed quietly. It was his turn to scowl.

"Look, we can protect ourselves. The Golden Trio did it all the time. You're easily as decent of a witch as Hermione and I'm quite good as well," he said, making a last ditch effort to convince her.

Had Jack Thompson really just compared her to The Great Hermione Granger? Peggy drew back, startled and mind racing. Jack blinked rapidly several times before relaxing back into his chair.

"Alright, fine, we'll do something boring like-" Peggy decided to cut him off there.

"No, idiot, we're going to the Forbidden Forest," she stated softly. He squinted at her, not sure if she was serious. Realizing that indeed she was, a slow grin grew on his face.

"Right then. What's the plan?" he asked. Peggy's face lit up in knowing smile.

"Okay, so here's how it goes."

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**Honestly, not entirely sure what's in mind for next chapter (I drift on the wind of inspiration) so any suggestions would be appreciated and interesting!**

**Thanks to all the lovely reviews! You all seriously plaster smiles on my face for ages! You guys are bae**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry that this update took so long! Research paper will be all over tomorrow so I'll be able to get another update out hopefully Friday (and, hopefully, it will be bigger)**

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"Jesus, Peggy, what the hell?!" Jack stage whispered when the brunette whacked him softly in the back with her satchel. "You scared me half to death!" He turned to glare at her face-to-face but his gaze became softer at the look of glee in her eyes.

She raised her eyebrows at him and pointed down the hall. There was a man walking further away, heading to the main doors of Hogwarts.

"Who is that?" Jack asked in a quiet tone, gently tugging Peggy toward him as he stepped into a doorframe.

She shrugged. "I wish we had that map Potter's got."

Jack cocked his head. "What map?"

"It's enchanted to show who and where everyone is on Hogwarts' grounds," she explained. "He's shown it to me a couple times. I wish I had one, but apparently it's one of a kind."

"Huh," was all Jack said in reply. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, irked with himself for letting the idea of Peggy being with James Potter get to him for whatever reason it did.

Peggy glanced at him, seeming a little confused by his reaction, before peeking out of the doorway and checking the hall.

"He's gone," she stated in her normal tone, confident that the mystery person was no longer in the vicinity. "C'mon, this way." She led him off in the opposite direction of the anonymous.

They raced out at door and through the courtyard and out of the school, elbowing each other playfully as they ran. They slowed down to a trot and quieted down as they got closer to Hagrids's cabin, even though they knew the old softie wouldn't turn them in for being out at night if he did catch them.

Suddenly realizing about 100 yards from the forest that she was in fact going into the _Forbidden Forest _with none other than _Jack Thompson_, Peggy came to a jerking halt. Jack continued for a few seconds before stopping and turning to face her.

"Are you alright, Peggy?" he asked, taking a step towards her- concerned. She took a deep breath, patted her satchel, and nodded before starting off again, although this time it was at a walk.

Jack waited for her to catch up to him before joining the ambling pace.

"Are you sure you haven't changed your mind?" he asked, bumping shoulders with her.

"More on edge than anything, I guess," she shrugged. "I think I have everything we need, but I'm worried forgot something."

Jack chuckled in disbelief. "Your bag is miniscule, you do realize that?"

"I used an expansion spell!" she guffawed at him. He rolled his eyes with a grin.

"So let me guess- you stole everything from Madame Pomfrey?"

"I wouldn't say… everything? Maybe ¾ of it?"

"Whatever."

They both stopped right in front of the bushes and trees, seeing for the first time just how _dark _it was. Shadows dripped from branches and fell sinisterly over the underbrush, casting a gloomy aura.

Peggy heard Jack gulp beside her.

"You okay?" she asked, glancing at him. He looked at her, quirking the corner of his mouth up.

"Yeah, yeah I'm just dandy. Let's do this," he replied, offering her his hand. She looked from it to him then to it again before lacing her fingers through his.

"Yeah, let's do it," she answered. They started walking, again, and shoved branches and leaves out of their way as they went.

After they had been walking for slightly over half an hour, they came across a particularly crowded area.

"Why is there not a path in this bloody forest?" Jack grumbled, dropping Peggy's hand to move a thorn branch out of their way. He held it back carefully as she slipped past him.

"I mean, it _is _forbidden," Peggy replied.

Jack tried worming his way past the bush as well, but it snapped his arm as he let go. He yelped and jerked his arm to his chest, mumbling obscenities. Peggy bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at him.

"Are you bleeding?" she asked when she was sure she wouldn't burst out in chuckles.

"Only a little. Damn thing scratched me pretty good though," he replied, holding out his arm for her to examine.

It didn't look to serious from Peggy's perspective but she knew that the recipient of pain almost always makes it worse for themselves.

"I'll disinfect it for you when we get to a clearing," she offered.

He rubbed his eyes with his good hand and shook himself, suddenly looking worse for wear.

"Yeah, if we… make it… to one," he mumbled before falling over.

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**Sorry, cliffhanger, I know ;) **

**Seriously love every review! Thanks for the faves and follows.**

**(and someone pointed out that Daniel's name is in fact Daniel, not David. That's getting fixed like now-ish, my bad)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, lovelies! I'm back with an update (albeit, a short one; nonetheless, here it is)**

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"_Leviosa!" _Peggy barely managed to say the spell in time to catch Jack before he hit the ground. She was frozen, staring in fear and confusion at Jack's floating body.

"Okay, Peggy, calm down and think. It'll be alright," she told herself. Shuddering, she cast two summoning charms to get the medicinal potion kit she'd "borrowed" from Madame Pomfrey and a herbology encyclopedia. She flipped through the book furiously, trying to get to the thorned plant section quickly.

Jack moaned in agony and Peggy's gaze shot to him. He was convulsing horribly.

"Stupid, stupid, this was so stupid," she whimpered under her breath, realizing she was nearly out of time.

_"__Accio bezoar!" _she incanted and the stone zoomed from her satchel to her hand in an instant as she jumped up and raced to Jack's side. She opened his mouth unceremoniously and shoved the bezoar in, holing his mouth closed since he was resisting it.

Foam came frothing from the corners of his mouth and he gagged, his eyes opening wide only to lull backwards again.

She lowered his body slowly to the ground with her wand and sat down next to him, nervously pinching her bottom lip, and waited

"Peggy?" came to the voice she was waiting for- though it was hoarser than she cared f. She nearly cried with relief, leaning down to hug him. "What the bloody hell happened?"

Straightening up and checking his condition to make sure he wasn't relapsing, she started a run-down of what had occurred. "I don't know. You got scratched by that bush and then you just past out and I tried to find out what species of plant it was but then you started to get worse, like really god-awful, and I gave you a bezoar and it worked," she rushed, pulling out healing salves from her bag. "We still need to get you cleaned up."

"Woah, wait- where did you get a _bezoar?_" he questioned her, leaning up on his elbows to lessen the strain on his neck.

She pursed her lips before answering. "Potions."

He guffawed in misbelief. "Madame Pomfrey might let you get away with taking those potions," he warned, pointing to the kit, "but there's no bugging way Professor Ivchenko won't rain hell down on you!"

"I'm not concerned about Ivchenko right now, okay? We'll be in loads of trouble for coming out here," she scoffed. "But we need to get you back." She began applying the salve to one of the deeper scratches. Jack sucked in a deep breath and sat up all the way, turning to face the forest.

"We don't need to go back right away," he grumbled, wincing as she moved to another cut. "Besides, we didn't even see any animals or creatures or whatever."

"There's no point in trying if we can't even get to them without a near death experience," Peggy objected, using more force than necessary to clean the next scratch. He hissed in annoyance.

_"__I'm _the one who almost died. I say we go on," he said. She frowned and felt her brow furrow.

"I'm the one who watched you almost die," she murmured, finishing addressing the salve to his wounds and starting to pack it away.

Jack reached out and touched her wrist. When that didn't make her turn to him, he lightly took hold of her chin and slowly turned it towards him so she would face him.

"Peggy, I'm fine. Because of you, I am _fine._ I _almost _died but I didn't. You're too stubborn to let anyone die on your watch." Jack spoke soothingly and yet Peggy still found herself holding back tears.

"No, Jack-" Peggy started and stopped, not wanting her voice to shake. This feeling of dread and loss, she had felt it before. This was another one that was too close to call, like the one back home, back in Brooklyn. The one with- she cut off her thoughts again.

"I want to stick to the plan, Pegs, if that's alright with you," Jack said hesitantly, withdrawing his hands from her.

Peggy took a deep breath to compose herself. It would be fine, it would all work out she tried to convince herself.

"Alright, Jack, we'll give it one more shot. Just _one_," she acquiesced.

Jack grinned at her and stood up, albeit shakily, and offered her a hand, helping her up.

"Let's go find a unicorn, shall we?"

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**I'm in full swing with soccer season but also have been really motivated recently! **

**Thanks to the lovely reviews (you're all precious) and thanks for the faves and follows :)**

**Hope no one was too confused about me changing my pen name, that is if you noticed ;)**


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